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Single-level coaches and dinettes. Equipment will be drawn from Amtrak’s short-run Horizon fleet, as are other Midwest day trains out of the Chicago hub.

All aboard: “Borealis on Track 1 to St. Paul.” Or Chicago.

WINONA, Minn. – Beginning May 21 the passenger rail service Amtrak will have second daily round-trip train through Winona. It’s a name train, like in train travel’s heyday – the Borealis, after the spectacular northern lights in Minnesota night skies. The new Borealis Winona timetable, as well as the timetable of the current Chicago-to-West Coast Empire Builder:

To St.Paul

> Empire Builder: 4:36 p.m.

> Borealis: 8:40 p.m.

To LaCrosse, Milwaukee, Chicago

> Empire Builder: 11:01 a.m.

> Borealis: 1:40 p.m.

To St. Paul: 1 hour and 50 minutes.

A minimum Borealis consist will include a standard Horizon-class coach, with 76 to 82 seats; a handicap-accessible Horizon coach, with 72 seats and wheelchair space; and a Horizon dinette, with table seating for 32. More coaches ca be added to meet demand. There are two classes of seating — business, $98 for the full distance each way and $41 for coach. This is a day train, no sleepers. Generally a single locomotive pulls the train.

2-2 coach seating configuration. Business class is 2-1. The trip is 7 hours and 28 minutes between Chicago and St. Paul. At 448 mniutes, that’s in the neighborhood of the vaunted Chicago & Northwestern’s claim in the 1930s: “400 miles n 400 mutes.” Truth be told: The 400s never quite arrived on time.  Close but no cigar.

Locomotive. The latest Siemens Charger engine is state of the art designed for a top speed of 125 mph. Midwest tracks, however, have a 79 mph limit.

Horizon profile

Horizon-class intercity passenger cars, manufactured by Bombardier in Barre, Vermont, began Amtrak service in 1989. The design was based on the pre-Amtrak Comet-series cars built for the Erie Lackawanna Railroad in New Jersey. Most today run on routes out of Chicago to Carbondale, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Quincy, Port Huron, Springfield and St Louis.

Earlier:  Summer target for new Winona train